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Looking for answers

Thanks for all the great comments and advice. I did get a hold of an American Standard Rep. He knows the installer. He is going to get with him to get all the info on the repair work. He was telling me that they have had similar problem in Seguin TX because of sulfure. Most of south Texas has sulfer in the water. The curious thing here would be there are 4 houses here, all have central air units. The other 3 are less than 3 years old, and none have ever had any problems at all. They too are all American Standard units, the only difference is they all use the R-22 refrigerant. Mine the one with all the leaks uses the R-410a. I will update as soon as hear from the rep.

Thanks for all the great comments and advice. I did get a hold of an American Standard Rep. He knows the installer. He is going to get with him to get all the info on the repair work. He was telling me that they have had similar problem in Seguin TX because of sulfure. Most of south Texas has sulfer in the water. The curious thing here would be there are 4 houses here, all have central air units. The other 3 are less than 3 years old, and none have ever had any problems at all. They too are all American Standard units, the only difference is they all use the R-22 refrigerant. Mine the one with all the leaks uses the R-410a. I will update as soon as hear from the rep.

Thanks for getting back to us ... I am very interested in what the cause is, so please let us know ...

.

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I was hoping someone might have an ansewer to a problem I'm having with an American Standard coil. The coil to this unit has been replaced 6 times and is needing to be replaced again. Thank goodness for the extended warranty. My A/C man tells me that he doesn't know what is causing the failures with each one but they all develope leaks in less than a year. We live in Pleasanton Texas. We are just your average family with no use of anything I can think of that might cause this thing to keep failing. It is a 3.5 ton heat pump unit with the air handler in the attick. The unit is now 8 years old and I think must be a lemon. It was one of American Standards fancier units when we purchased it. I would appriciate any input. Thanks.

Are they actually proving that the coils are developing leaks? What methods are they using? ....Maybe the leak is elsewhere

American Standard/Trane has a program in place for extended warranty evaporator coil replacements. Any evap coil, regardless of age that is replaced under extended warranty gets sent to the factory to be tested.

If they cannot confirm the techs diagnosis the warranty claim is not paid, and the contractor eats the complete cost of the work performed and materials used, including the coil.

I don't think that many coils will be sent back without the contractor being absolutely sure the problem was properly diagnosed.

If people only focused on the important things in life there would be a shortage of fishing poles.

By the way, I work for a company that sells Trane as it's primary system, and I have come across quite a few of them that had leaks. Maybe about 5 or 6 in the past 2 years, but it does happen. However, 6 times in a row? That's just preposterous.

Not as lean, not as mean, but I'm still a hardcore, ass-kicking, hard charging Marine! Oohrah!

To reinterate from the last time. I talked to the factory rep,(Stuart), at American Standard. We went trough the whole thing about the sulfur in the area and all. He mentioned "Sick building syndom" and that they really don't know what is causing the failures of the evaporator coil. I checked the Chinese sheetrock theory. That as with sulfur will turn the copper black. Thats not the problem because the copper is pristine. Long story short, they came in and replaced another coil at the end of June. It too has since failed. This one in just 4 months. The installer who has an excellent reputation and American Standard swears by him, says there is no indicatiion of any corrosionon the coil. It will develope these leaks that are just a pin hole, and I think he told me usually only one. He thinks it is some kind of chemcal reaction to something in the house. I tend to disagree. I have gone through the house and cannot identify anything that is uncommon to other households. I'm certainly not an expert in this matter, but is it possible there might be some sort of electrolysis? There is no problem with the refigerators in the house, just the A/C unit. I'm wondering too, if just simply replacing the intire unit wouldn't solve this dilemma. Since there is no indication of corrosion, maybe its something wrong with the unit itself? I would appriciate all of you thoughts once again, and thanks so much. Paul S Cardwell

the unit itself?

Originally Posted by paulc7

Hi Everyone,

To reinterate from the last time. I talked to the factory rep,(Stuart), at American Standard. We went trough the whole thing about the sulfur in the area and all. He mentioned "Sick building syndom" and that they really don't know what is causing the failures of the evaporator coil. I checked the Chinese sheetrock theory. That as with sulfur will turn the copper black. Thats not the problem because the copper is pristine. Long story short, they came in and replaced another coil at the end of June. It too has since failed. This one in just 4 months. The installer who has an excellent reputation and American Standard swears by him, says there is no indicatiion of any corrosionon the coil. It will develope these leaks that are just a pin hole, and I think he told me usually only one. He thinks it is some kind of chemcal reaction to something in the house. I tend to disagree. I have gone through the house and cannot identify anything that is uncommon to other households. I'm certainly not an expert in this matter, but is it possible there might be some sort of electrolysis? There is no problem with the refigerators in the house, just the A/C unit. I'm wondering too, if just simply replacing the intire unit wouldn't solve this dilemma. Since there is no indication of corrosion, maybe its something wrong with the unit itself? I would appriciate all of you thoughts once again, and thanks so much. Paul S Cardwell

The coil is a seperate item than the rest of the unit. which is only a sheetmetal box with a fan.This would not do any thing. I would strongly recommend inspecting your return duct and your filter set up. Is your filter rack seperate from the unit?

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Last month we replaced the third coil on a system that was installed in 2005. Coil # 4 is an epoxy coated coil that was supplied to us by Trane and should eliminate this issue if it is a problem with the exterior of the coil. It does raise another issue of possible increased mold growth on the coil though. We will have to wait and see how this coil works.

You may ask about a coated coil to protect the surface area from anything that may be in the home.

I have also heard rumor of a full aluminum coil becoming available in the first qtr of 2010.

If people only focused on the important things in life there would be a shortage of fishing poles.

forcryinoutloud,
Thats interesting. You know a few years ago they did install one that was coated. I don't know what it was coated with though. I'm sure it must have been the same thing. It too developed a leak after about 9 months. Wouldn't this indicate that there must be some sort of internal problem? I mean the coating is applied to protect the copper and aluminum from corrosives. So what ever is eating at this is not selective at whether it is copper, aluminum, or even epoxy. I would think it that it must be caused from the inside out?

The Filter is located directly in front of the main unit. This unit is in the attic, so the return air duct comes in from two smaller loctions, and one large one directly under the unit on the ceiling. The filter is behind a door you remove to slide the filter out, a somewhat large filter, about 24x24x8. When I change it, I can see the coil. you know provided you shine a flash light in there.